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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Animal and neighbor problems
  • Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 10:39:29 -0400


On Mar 29, 2011, at 10:28 PM, Mike Rock wrote:

Wyatt,
Which fencing law does your state have, right or left hand? Find out.
When you or your neighbor views the fence, each is responsible for their half (right or left). Even if they don't have livestock and you do, they must maintain their half of the fence.

Mike, what state are you in?

I don't think such laws are still in effect in all states; and as fencing laws varied by state to begin with, and as many of them originally called for the person who had crops to be responsible for fencing in the crops, I'd be surprised if every state has a current fencing law that works as you describe above. There are often, but not always, local regulations about height and location of fences.

I never heard of anyone being required to pay for / install half of a fence on someone else's property; though both may be responsible for repairs if there's a pre-exising fence that's right on the boundary line.

Wyatt, I agree that you need to find out the law in your area. Check into fencing law at the state level, the county level, and the municipality level (township etc.); there may be multiple laws affecting fences in your area, or there may be law at one of the above levels even if there isn't at any of the others.

If one of the people you're having fence trouble with is a township trustee, this is not a good sign, especially if any relevant law turns out to be on the township level. I hope that person is an isolated case, and not an indication of the general attitude in that area in regards to fencing. How long have you lived there? Do people in that area generally expect to allow their pigs and dogs to run loose, with the burden of fencing being borne by crop farmers and/or those with vulnerable species of livestock? That does seem to have been the attitude in much of the country till the late 1800's; maybe that's still the way it's expected to be in some places. (For that matter, in some areas it's entirely acceptable to shoot the trespassing animals. Even if so, I'd advise warning the neighbor first; though it sounds as if you've done that. And you might want to check, both whether it's legal for you to shoot them, and what the community attitude is, so you have an idea of how large a fight you'd be taking on.)

Also, were the fences that were taken down on your land, or right on the boundary line? Is there agreement as to where the boundary lines are? If what you have is a disagreement as to whose fence it was that was taken down, and/or whose the land is that one neighbor keeps using as his parking lot, you might need to get a survey done, if one doesn't already exist. -- If that neighbor's been using it as his parking lot for long enough, he might even have a legal right to do so even if it wasn't his land to start with, at least if there was a period of enough years during which no one was making any objections to this. Laws about this also vary from state to state; look up "adverse possession".

I wouldn't keep trying to talk to a neighbor who threatens you. Find out what the law is and, presuming it's on your side, call the sheriff. (A threat to "punch you out" is very likely illegal in itself; but hard to prove, unless he makes it in front of witnesses who will testify. I'd tell the sheriff about it, though -- if only so that person can be prepared for possible violence.)


-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale







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